, 1887-02-03
DOMINION OVER WILD ANIMALS.


Tho Ease with Which Unarmed Men
Subdue Beasts in Menageries.
Those who nave carefully observed the
management of wild animals in men
ageries, geological gardens and in the pens
of the animal dealers must at times have
been astonished at the ease with which
hired men, comparatively unarmed, sub
due beasts which we have been taught
yield only to the blazing rifle, and fight
gamely until death. A lion escapes from
his cage and crouches at the darkened end
of the m~enagerie. Remembering the stories
we have read of the ferocity of this beast
and of the terrible scenes at the lion hunt,
we can imagine only one mod of action.
The keepers should arm themselves with
rifles, hide behind barriers, and open a
rapid fire upon him. To our surprise, they
don't do this. They simply wheel a great
cage up to him, fall upon him with clubs,
and thrash away until he enters it.
A few weeks ago an anaconda seven
teen feet long broke away while being
carried across a public park in New York
city. With vivid pictures of the exploits
of this reptile in the Amazon watershed
before our eyes, we expect to see him fall
upon the nearest human being, enfold him
in his tolls and crush him to a Jelly.
Surely it will take armed and resolute
men to capture him, No; on the con-
trary, this is not required, and it must
have been with n feeling kin to disap-
pointment that those who had read of the
ferocity of the anaconda saw one man
armed only with a blanket, advance and
seize him by the throat, while two others,
also unarmed, grasp his tail, and then the
trio, still holding on, carry him through
the streets and thrust him back into the
den whence he had been taken.
Not long since the writer saw Mr..
Thomson, n dealer in live animals, open a
box containing an anaconda, quite as long
as this one, take the reptile by the throat
and calmly xamine his mouth, opened
though it was in rage, to look for cancer
GUS humors. Then from adjoining shelves
he took python after python, each about
ten feet long, and examined them in like
manner. At the place of another dealer
(Reiche), a big, powerful Syrian bear, q
type known for its ferocity, was subdued
without the firing of a shot. The bear
broke through iron bars half an inch
thick, and, standing up with his back
against n cage of monkeys, thrust his ter
rible paws threateningly toward three
keepers gathered about him. He didn't
have a chance to use them, however, for
he was belabored with clubs until glad to
get back again into his cage.
On a pedestal near the gate of the Gin
cinnati Geological gardens there recently
stood the stuffed figure of a donkey which,
when alive, withstood the attack OF a lion
and beat him off. The lion, 1t seems, had
broken out OF his cage and escaped to IA
wood near by. On a grassy hillock, ad-
Joining, a donkey lay stretched in placid
slumber-a slumber that was rudely dis
turbed by the lion, who, in a few bounds,
was pom him. When the donkey felt
the great mass OF flesh descend upon him
as If from the clouds, he was stunned and
Indignant, but not frightened, perhaps be-
cause he had never read any OF the won
derful stories about the lion. He quickly
recovered from the blow, and, rising, shot
out both hind feet at the same time, and
caught the lion squarely in the forehead.
Badly hurt, the lion skulked of, and
later the donkey died OF the wound he re-
ceived at the onset. scientific American.